Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

February 07, 2019 - Dr. Joris Ray, Shelby County Schools interim superintendent, speaks about the state of Shelby County Schools and the district's progress on Destination 2025, an initiative to raise graduation rates. The goal is to graduate 90 percent of its students on time by 2025.(Photo: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

The Shelby County Schools board will consider ending the search for a new superintendent and offer the job to interim leader Joris Ray.

The board will vote at its business meeting this month on a resolution to end the search, which is barely off the ground five months after former Superintendent Dorsey Hopson announced he would leave the district.

Despite his 18-month contract, Ray has looked long-term, planning for an initiative that would provide every student with a laptop or similar device over the next six years. He has said repeatedly he wants the permanent job.

Ray hasn't yet sunk his teeth into Hopson's footprint plan, which as written, would close 28 schools and build 10 new ones over the next seven to 10 years. But Ray did propose, and the board mostly approved, rezonings to send students to schools that are closer to their neighborhoods.

Community feedback

Ray, a former teacher and assistant principal with more than 20 years in the district, said he wants to seek community feedback before deciding how to move forward with the building plan.

Community feedback is also often the hallmark of a superintendent search, something that would be largely abandoned if the board did away with the search process.

Love said she's not worried about that, as nearly all the feedback she's received from teachers and parents to this point has been in support of Ray.

Scott McCormick, who chairs the search committee, said if the board ends the search, they would likely renegotiate a contract with Ray, who is paid $285,000 a year.

McCormick said the five-month time period it took to pick a search committee was due to logistical issues and the board's process, not an indication of a lack of enthusiasm for a search.

McCormick told his fellow board members the process of the search was also about accountability and transparency, although noted after the meeting he too has heard positive feedback from the community about their interim leader.

"I personally have not had anybody give me a negative comment about Dr. Ray," McCormick said.

The resolution to end the search and the search firm contract will be on the board's work session agenda April 23, and both would be up for a vote the following week.

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.